An Art of Balance

Chapter 28: No Heartache, No Distractions

A/N: Julian Bennett is not my own OC

"I forgot again, how do you harvest Dittany leaves?"

Skye scowled at her textbook as she flicked through the pages in search for an answer. Her frown deepened when she reached the end of the chapter without finding a satisfying conclusion and repeated the process for probably the fourth time by now. Her hair was tousled from the many times she had run her hands through it in frustration, little strands of the blue section sticking out from the braid pinned across her forehead.

She was looking as exhausted as Lizzie was feeling. It was almost the end of May and the term had slowly but surely entered its final stretch. With the O.W.L.s breathing down their necks, Lizzie and Skye had found themselves in the library more often than ever before.

Lizzie didn't mind concentrating on studying for what felt like the first time this year; besides from it being more than necessary by now, it was an effective way to take her mind off the final match against Gryffindor that was scheduled for the next week.

Her insides were already churning with anxiety at the thought of what was at stake, but she wasn't the only one on edge; the whole student body seemed tense, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors in particular. Neither House had won the Cup in a few years and both were eager to end their streak of bad luck. Even Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout, who were known to be great friends, were feeling the building tension, only exchanging a minimum of polite words during mealtime.

Over the years, Lizzie had found several ways of dealing with her pre-match anxiety, her favourite one being keeping her mind busy by spending time around her friends. This year, however, she didn't have that many people left to hang out with.

Although a good few weeks had passed since the match against Slytherin and its eventful aftermaths, the atmosphere between Lizzie and her friends was still as tense as before.

Contrary to what she had thought, Charlie hadn't wanted to speak with her when she had tried to apologise on the same evening of their fight. She had tried to catch him a second time the next day, only to be informed by Julian that Charlie had made it very clear that he had no desire whatsoever to talk to her anytime soon.

"I believe his exact words were 'She can bugger off' but you know how he is," he had told her sympathetically, "give him some space and he will get over it eventually."

But as of today, she was still waiting for any sign of readiness for peace from his part. Lizzie regretted her rash words and wanted nothing more than to apologise for them; but if Charlie was still too hurt to listen to her, she had to accept it, albeit begrudgingly.

Where Lizzie knew what she would tell Charlie if he only agreed to speak to her, it was exactly the other way round with Rowan.

When Lizzie had told her about the outcome of her decision, it had been clear to see that it was not what Rowan had expected. Although she had immediately tried to hide it, there was no denying the surprise flickering across her face.

Both of them had tried to make peace with one another and continue with their friendship as if nothing had happened. They had always been able to talk to each other openly, but now, neither girl knew how to approach the other.

Lizzie told herself time and time again that they only needed some time to heal before they could go back to normal, but there was this nagging voice in the back of her mind that kept getting louder and louder every time Lizzie felt more relieved than anything else when Rowan left her to herself. Maybe all the things that had gone wrong between them were too many; maybe, there was no going back for them.